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2545M–AVR–09/07
architecture is more code efficient while achieving throughputs up to ten times faster than con-
ventional CISC microcontrollers.
The ATmega48/88/168 provides the following features: 4K/8K/16K bytes of In-System Program-
mable Flash with Read-While-Write capabilities, 256/512/512 bytes EEPROM, 512/1K/1K bytes
SRAM, 23 general purpose I/O lines, 32 general purpose working registers, three flexible
Timer/Counters with compare modes, internal and external interrupts, a serial programmable
USART, a byte-oriented 2-wire Serial Interface, an SPI serial port, a 6-channel 10-bit ADC (8
channels in TQFP and QFN/MLF packages), a programmable Watchdog Timer with internal
Oscillator, and five software selectable power saving modes. The Idle mode stops the CPU
while allowing the SRAM, Timer/Counters, USART, 2-wire Serial Interface, SPI port, and inter-
rupt system to continue functioning. The Power-down mode saves the register contents but
freezes the Oscillator, disabling all other chip functions until the next interrupt or hardware reset.
In Power-save mode, the asynchronous timer continues to run, allowing the user to maintain a
timer base while the rest of the device is sleeping. The ADC Noise Reduction mode stops the
CPU and all I/O modules except asynchronous timer and ADC, to minimize switching noise dur-
ing ADC conversions. In Standby mode, the crystal/resonator Oscillator is running while the rest
of the device is sleeping. This allows very fast start-up combined with low power consumption.
The device is manufactured using Atmel’s high density non-volatile memory technology. The
On-chip ISP Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed In-System through an SPI
serial interface, by a conventional non-volatile memory programmer, or by an On-chip Boot pro-
gram running on the AVR core. The Boot program can use any interface to download the
application program in the Application Flash memory. Software in the Boot Flash section will
continue to run while the Application Flash section is updated, providing true Read-While-Write
operation. By combining an 8-bit RISC CPU with In-System Self-Programmable Flash on a
monolithic chip, the Atmel ATmega48/88/168 is a powerful microcontroller that provides a highly
flexible and cost effective solution to many embedded control applications.
The ATmega48/88/168 AVR is supported with a full suite of program and system development
tools including: C Compilers, Macro Assemblers, Program Debugger/Simulators, In-Circuit Emu-
lators, and Evaluation kits.
2.2 Comparison Between ATmega48, ATmega88, and ATmega168
The ATmega48, ATmega88 and ATmega168 differ only in memory sizes, boot loader support,
and interrupt vector sizes. Table 2-1 summarizes the different memory and interrupt vector sizes
for the three devices.
ATmega88 and ATmega168 support a real Read-While-Write Self-Programming mechanism.
There is a separate Boot Loader Section, and the SPM instruction can only execute from there.
In ATmega48, there is no Read-While-Write support and no separate Boot Loader Section. The
SPM instruction can execute from the entire Flash.
Table 2-1. Memory Size Summary
Device Flash EEPROM RAM Interrupt Vector Size
ATmega48 4K Bytes 256 Bytes 512 Bytes 1 instruction word/vector
ATmega88 8K Bytes 512 Bytes 1K Bytes 1 instruction word/vector
ATmega168 16K Bytes 512 Bytes 1K Bytes 2 instruction words/vector
